Renuka Dam in troubled waters

Delhi’s water scarcity problems were supposed to be solved after the completion of Rs 2700-crore Renuka Dam in Himachal Pradesh. However, the project is running in troubled waters after the affected families have rejected the compensation being offered to them by the Himachal Government.
The residents feel that the compensation is “too meagre” and even local NGOs in the area are resisting the present structure of the dam. For a 24-kilometre long water reservoir a 148-m high and 430-m wide dam is being built to store water from Giri Ganga river in Himachal. If deadlines are met then the dam, which is primarily being built for storing water in the reservoir so that Delhi’s drinking water needs are taken care of, will be complete by 2014.
However, if the state government of Himachal falters in acquisition of the land, then the project can get delayed for years altogether. The state government has allocated the ambitious Renuka Dam Hydro Electric Project to the H.P. Power Corporation for execution in a time bound manner.

The Agitation
The affected families have now formed an organization Renuka Bandh Sangharsh Samiti (RBSS), and are now protesting the land acquisition. The organization alleges that project is being implemented keeping the local people in the dark. Convener of RBSS, Yogendra Kapila says, “The state government has just given a lollypop in the name of compensation. They haven’t built a resettlement colony for the displaced families. How are we supposed to leave our homes? Moreover, around 80 per cent of farmers have areas that are less then five bighas, means compensation package of roughly Rs 10 lakh. The local farmers can hardly buy a land to build a house there, if you go by market rates.”
Kapila also feels that, “if we are leaving our land so that people of Delhi can drink water, we should be given compensation according to the land rates prevalent there.”

Himachal Optimistic
HP Power Corporation MD Tarun Kapoor, however, is optimistic that the issue will be resolved with the affected people and the dam work will be awarded to the contractor by June 2009.
"We are in talks with the Sangharsh Samiti and those affected by the project. The process of land acquirement is on and some people have already given their land," he said.
The government if offering a price of Rs 50,000 per bigha of uncultivable land, Rs 1.5 lakh per bigha of un-irrigated cultivable land and Rs 2.5 lakh per bigha of irrigated cultivable land. The samiti is very cooperative in talks and we are hopeful that the issue will be resolved soon," Kapoor said.
After the work is awarded in June 2009, the work should start by September/October, he said.
Regarding people transferring land, the RBSS Convener says, “These are only local property dealers who, eyeing an opportunity, had bought land at cheap rates long time back. Since it would be of no use to them now, they transferred the land.”
The RBSS is holding its meeting on January 10, where villagers from all 32 villages are coming together. “On this day we will discuss the strategy and chalk out a roadmap regarding our agitation. We will hold a huge rally and then start a countrywide agitation,” says Kapila.

Delhi keeping fingers crossed
However, Delhi government is hopeful that the local government in Himachal would be able to resolve the problem. "The Renuka Dam project is right on track and it should get ready by 2014," Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta told Metro Now.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests has already given its clearance and work on the dam will start soon, he said.
Wherever there is displacement, there is protest. But not many people are being displaced by the Renuka project. Those few hundreds being displaced are being suitably rehabilitated, he said.
The Himachal government is making the displaced people aware that they are not at loss. "For this they need some time. The protest should not be a big problem. We will meet the officials in Himachal by April again," Mehta said.
The dam, on Giri Ganga River, will offer a storage capacity of 542 million cubic meters of water and an installed capacity of 40 MW of power and will supply Delhi with an additional 275 MGD of water. The dam has been planned keeping in mind the requirements of the Master Plan for Delhi -2021.
Water from the Dam will be brought into the Yamuna through the Giri; it will then be released at the Hathni Kund barrage and from there passed into the Munak Channel and finally brought to the Capital.

Families affected
The protest of these displaced families can take gigantic proportions as according to local panchayat register, only 450 families in 32 villages covering 1,630 hectare of land are registered, however the actual number of families in these 32 villages is much more than 1,600.
The villagers are also protesting about the construction of three tunnels near the holy Renukaji lake. “For the construction of the tunnels, blasting will take place. The tunnels just 350-metre away from the lake and thus the holy lake as well as shrine of Lord Parashuram can be in danger. Even the dam is being built very close to the lake. It can be a disaster,” adds Kapila.

NGOs too join in
The agitating farmers too have got support from a Himachal-based NGO Himalaya Niti Abhiyan whose Chairman is Kulbhushan Upmanyu. Upmanyu who started Chipko movement in Himachal and a close confidante of Sunder Lal Bahuguna, says, “We are not opposing the dam. The dam is of national importance. However, the compensation that has been decided is very nominal. With that money, farmers won’t be able to buy land elsewhere. Even if a villager gets Rs 2.5 lakh per bigha for fertile irrigated land per bigha, the minimum rate to buy an unirrigated land in Himachal is Rs 10-12 lakh.”
Upmanyu is opposing the height of the dam. “If you keep the height of the dam below 100 metres, lot of flora and fauna would be saved. We demand a study to be conducted on the ecological destruction of the region due to the dam’s construction. Moreover the destruction of forest wealth due to the reservoir will harm the survival needs of the local residents,” he says.
The NGO is also of the viewpoint that farmer’s income is in perpetuity through farming. However, once he gets the money after selling land, after sometime it will finish and they won’t have any source of income. Farmers are not trained money managers. And with the amount of money they are getting, they won’t be able to become farmer’s again.
“We’ll wait and see what happens on January 10, when the agitating farmers ups its ante against the local goevrment,” said Upmanyu.